The time period you refer to goes from March, 2011, to April, 2012. That means we're talking 2011 here, more than 2012. As for Robert Hyatt being responsible for the spike, our interests rarely overlap, so I haven't been following his posts. I can't endorse or oppose you hypothesis.

September 13, 2015 - October 14, 2016: 12,624 posts (that's less than 1,000 a month).

It looks like Rybka fans, no longer believe it to be a work in progress. In recent years, only the WBCCC kept post figures high, right now without the flip side sub-forum, there's no major activity left.

Ozy my buddy, i wasn't into computer-chess the last 21 months (of course a lot real-life matters...), and when coming back today reviewing my [final corr-]game against Uly - and i still get real pleasure thinking about how he got whipped by that time , i also got a real smile seeing your post here...

You're one of the greatest guys i ever met online in my life, our exchange about corr-&freestyle-chess was a real pleasure, and of course i still owe you some calculating-resources i promised (sadly there is no freestyle-tournament near-term )...

Boy, i miss you all... Nelson, BfL, turbojuice, ppipper, Eros, NATIONAL12, donkysand, Matt, ..., yes hell, even bantering with Uly. Hope everything is fine with ya guys!, just a shame this forum dies every day a little more...

, i just wished there would be days ahead of us where such nuances would matter anymore.

But tell me, is there anything new around freestyle-chess on the horizon, or just the usual engine-only-<insertyourself>? Sad there are no sponsors to fund Chiron/Arno-infinity, he is a great captain without a [money-]ship...

Great to see you still here, even when you would be just the perfect candidate for the US-presidency your country is currently just lacking... you're eloquent&intelligent, well read and not only attractive to both women and hispanics... yes, your political ideas wouldn't even be that important as long as they suit the typical taxes-down&we-finally-fight-the-corrupt-system-standard-rhethoric... Edit: Oh, and wikispaces even lists you as a correspondence-chess player!

Do some of you [rare] thinking Americans realize that Hillary is an old very-to-often-used toilet brush, who can't -actually never could- even satisfy Bill's needs?

Regarding "Trump vs. Crooky" the media here in Germany is as biased as in the US, which doesn't surprise when you consider that US- and other befriended-countries hold major stakes in them... yet it's always funny to read that Hillary won a debate because a CNN-poll is telling that...

Don Ozy, i wanted to point out i STILL have V1.5a in my toolbox, despite newer versions (which often were just overtweaked for engine-games, yet they brought some new interesting "features"...) and even in Stockfish/Komodo-age... and besides that, i even have something in my toolbox which you don't have: my perfect-good look!

I'm currently analysing your freestyle-games from the tourney of spring 2014... you don't want to know, how many disastrous disconcepts, outright blunders, serious mistakes, tactical disasters and strategical catastrophes i have already found... in your first game!

, oh no wait, that was a game of Grandblasta Alvin, Wrathmaku of the Titans...

Was it the Ruy Lopez game? I had three games in that tour that have huge winning chances but i misplayed coz difficult to play in my time zone. My games are running between 10pm to 2am so basically i was sleeping during my games!

Would be great to see another freestyle-tournament, especially as you really deserved first prize in the last one (Nelson might not agree, but: most top10-wins, least profit of other-participants-mistakes...)... let me know a few weeks in advanced and i can arrange a few dozen cores for calculation (at least for some demanding games).

What is your current interest in computer chess? Do you regularly build your book, play engine-only-games, analyze openings or Intagrand's weaknesses, test engines, ...?

Wishing you a turnaround&speedy recovery Ozy/J.!; As we both know, chess often can ease some pain, especially when there is some kind of real competition (tournament, important game, ...)... guess i wouldn't live today when not for some glory moments back then.

A few years back i have beaten you several times with my old nick in corr-chess - indeed i can't remember you scoring even a half point against me , but i also realized you got stronger and more solid recently... till now i didn't even had a serious try at freestyle, and indeed your 2nd at the last freestyle-tournament was pretty impressive, yet you obviously borrowed&used some seriously hardware achieving this. And as my resources for the next freestyle-tournament (may it ever happen...) are already promised to Ozy and i therefore can't even participate on my own, i may have to wait till ~2022 to get my feets wet there.